<p class="title">Every other year during summer, my wife and I travel to London to spend time with my son and family. Obviously, the reward is the exclusive time with the grandchildren. On these trips I end up shopping for clothes, particularly if they are offered on discount. This time, too, I have added to my collection of shirts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The day after landing, I made my way to the iconic Oxford Street where my favourite stores are located. As is my habit I made a recce of the various shops, looking for the best deal. I noticed a strange phenomenon on this trip compared to my last visit. The shirts didn’t have pockets. I thought it was a peculiarity of one of the stores. But the results were similar in other shops, too. A little research told me that in the UK, sales of shirts with breast pockets have collapsed — from 90% of all shirts sold a decade ago to 25% today.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The clothes snobs (that’s how the chaps who don’t want pockets are referred to) have been fighting them for years, and tragically — for a breast pocket fan like me — they’ve won. Surely a pocket is acceptable in most other parts of the world... no one ever questioned it when I wore a shirt with a pocket in either India or the US, or for the matter of fact, in the UK some years ago. Some styles even sport two breast pockets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Does this mean that no one in the UK wears a shirt with a pocket or feels the need for it? As if I didn’t have better things to do, I spent some of my limited time on the underground railway viewing men’s chests and how they were adorned. I wondered if people noticed me ‘checking them out’. Luckily, no one confronted me and asked why I was staring at them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">I never looked at a shirt pocket as a fashion accessory but a convenient receptacle for a pen or an airline Boarding Pass, or even visiting cards, when I was employed. I initially thought that the pocket-less problem was restricted to my favourite discount store. I imagined how many thousands of metres of cloth they would save every year by doing away with the pocket. But a further research took me to several up-market stores stocking international premium brands where, no surprises, shirts didn’t have pockets either.</p>.<p class="bodytext">I didn’t care either way. I was not going to change my wardrobe to adhere to a small section of what my pro-pocket friend terms “pocket snobs”. But then, if I had to add to my shirt collection, it was going to have to be without a pocket, because that’s what I could buy there. I did end up buying several of the new-fangled attire but back in India I have a peculiar problem. Where to keep my reading glasses?</p>.<p class="bodytext">So, we come down to the vital question — to pocket or not to pocket?</p>
<p class="title">Every other year during summer, my wife and I travel to London to spend time with my son and family. Obviously, the reward is the exclusive time with the grandchildren. On these trips I end up shopping for clothes, particularly if they are offered on discount. This time, too, I have added to my collection of shirts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The day after landing, I made my way to the iconic Oxford Street where my favourite stores are located. As is my habit I made a recce of the various shops, looking for the best deal. I noticed a strange phenomenon on this trip compared to my last visit. The shirts didn’t have pockets. I thought it was a peculiarity of one of the stores. But the results were similar in other shops, too. A little research told me that in the UK, sales of shirts with breast pockets have collapsed — from 90% of all shirts sold a decade ago to 25% today.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The clothes snobs (that’s how the chaps who don’t want pockets are referred to) have been fighting them for years, and tragically — for a breast pocket fan like me — they’ve won. Surely a pocket is acceptable in most other parts of the world... no one ever questioned it when I wore a shirt with a pocket in either India or the US, or for the matter of fact, in the UK some years ago. Some styles even sport two breast pockets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Does this mean that no one in the UK wears a shirt with a pocket or feels the need for it? As if I didn’t have better things to do, I spent some of my limited time on the underground railway viewing men’s chests and how they were adorned. I wondered if people noticed me ‘checking them out’. Luckily, no one confronted me and asked why I was staring at them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">I never looked at a shirt pocket as a fashion accessory but a convenient receptacle for a pen or an airline Boarding Pass, or even visiting cards, when I was employed. I initially thought that the pocket-less problem was restricted to my favourite discount store. I imagined how many thousands of metres of cloth they would save every year by doing away with the pocket. But a further research took me to several up-market stores stocking international premium brands where, no surprises, shirts didn’t have pockets either.</p>.<p class="bodytext">I didn’t care either way. I was not going to change my wardrobe to adhere to a small section of what my pro-pocket friend terms “pocket snobs”. But then, if I had to add to my shirt collection, it was going to have to be without a pocket, because that’s what I could buy there. I did end up buying several of the new-fangled attire but back in India I have a peculiar problem. Where to keep my reading glasses?</p>.<p class="bodytext">So, we come down to the vital question — to pocket or not to pocket?</p>